The World Future Energy Summit, which was held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center, included programs for exhibitions and forums distributed over 5 main pillars: energy, solar energy, water, waste and smart cities. This report presents the role of artificial intelligence in shaping smart cities.
Elaf from Beirut: The World Future Energy Summit, which took place from January 13-16, 2020 in Abu Dhabi, was a global forum that brought together senior government officials and business leaders to discuss the leading global market for energy, clean technologies and sustainability in the future. Here we show you how artificial intelligence is helping to develop the concept of smart cities.
The smart city
Cities around the world are suffering from the effects of rapid urbanization, which makes us unable to accommodate the huge numbers of cars and passengers. Mobility challenges go beyond congestion, as city dwellers also need easy, reliable and efficient links between home, work and other areas that are important to them.
Therefore, smart city planners and operators must be able to provide smart mobility networks that have the scale to accommodate the number of users, while at the same time providing 'last mile' connectivity that facilitates people's lives.
The combination of AI and IoT provides the data analysis necessary to accurately assess how and when people travel, unlocking the kind of insights needed to develop true smart mobility networks that benefit everyone. It is worth noting that this approach can not only lead to the design of better transport networks, but it can also alleviate parking problems and improve the efficiency of maintenance and restoration work while reducing its negative impact on the population.
The need for smart mobility capable of sustaining expanding cities in the Middle East, and in other regions aspiring to adopt the smart city model, is creating amazing and technologically advanced transportation systems. From helicopter taxis to self-driving vehicles in the city centre, Unibike, hyperloop and smart parking, the near future of travel is poised to be even closer and greener.
Dubai Smart Mobility Strategy
The Dubai Strategy for Smart Self-Driving Mobility aims to transform 25 percent of the total means of transportation in Dubai into self-driving by 2030. The strategy is expected to generate AED 22 billion in annual economic revenues in many sectors by reducing transportation costs And carbon emissions and accidents, and raising the productivity of individuals, as well as saving hundreds of millions of hours wasted in traditional means of transportation. The initiators of the project anticipate that autonomous transportation systems controlled by artificial intelligence will handle more than 5 million trips per day.
The year 2019 saw a self-driving taxi experience in Dubai Silicon Oasis. If these trials are successful, the self-driving taxis will provide a primary last resort that will be implemented in the Dubai metro and tram systems. It should be noted that this year also, the UAE Roads and Transport Authority began testing two models of "SkyPods" in partnership with "Skyway GreenTech Co", with the aim of establishing a private network that connects the city's high-rise towers.
The first model of Dubai's suspended units "Unibike" is characterized by being small in size and light in weight, as it combines the advantages of a high-performance electric vehicle with sports and entertainment features. The capacity of each transport unit ranges between 1 and 5 people, in addition to having a special space for individual transportation. And at a top speed of 150 kilometers per hour. As for the second model of Dubai's suspended units, "Unicar", it is designed to carry passengers for a distance of 200 km, and its capacity ranges between 2 and 6 passengers.
Securing the smart city
The rate of cybercrime continues to rise globally, with reported data security breaches reaching 42 percent in 2018, and the annual cost of cybercrime reaching $608 billion globally between 2014 and 2017.
The UAE government has carefully considered this current and evolving threat for years, and the end of June 2019 witnessed the launch of its National Cybersecurity Strategy, which aims to create a safe and resilient cyber environment in the country that helps enable citizens to achieve their ambitions and enable companies to develop and grow.
The new National Cybersecurity Strategy works to strengthen the integrated cybersecurity system through the implementation of 60 initiatives in 5 axes: Developing cybersecurity laws and regulations that include raising the security readiness of small and medium-sized companies through non-binding directives, and requiring suppliers of government agencies to possess a security application certificate Developing a unified portal for small and medium enterprises to enable them to implement standards, establishing a vital environment that includes protection of current and emerging technology, and updating the response plan for cyber incidents.
The authority developed the strategy, based on an analysis of more than 50 sources of global indicators and publications, working with a team of international experts, and conducting a benchmarking comparison with 10 leading countries in the field of cybersecurity systems.
Protecting the smart city
With the increasing threats in cyberspace, cities face all kinds of physical threats on a daily basis. By enabling real-time monitoring, analytics and decision-making, AI has proven to be an invaluable asset in assisting police and other security organizations in their ongoing efforts to combat crime and other threats.
By collecting data from the city's network through interconnected devices, cameras, sensors, and drones, AI solutions can provide people with the intelligence they need in a short time. Looking to the future, increasingly sophisticated AI solutions will be able to evaluate and then act autonomously when a human interception is too slow.
The presence of artificial intelligence is already being felt on the streets of major cities in the Middle East as police forces search for a new edge against crime. A prime example of this is that the Dubai Police Force has been at the forefront of incorporating technological innovation into its work for more than a decade. As for the latest creations of the Intelligence Department at the Dubai Police Command, it is flying motorcycles for sky patrols that may enter active service at the beginning of 2020. These bikes will be able to reach a speed of 96 kilometers per hour and can hover at a height of up to 5 meters above the ground.
Smart Infrastructure
While the strength of a smart city lies in its interconnected nature, with all elements exchanging data and informing strategic decisions to a central network, artificial intelligence and related technologies are also driving significant improvements in the sustainability of individual buildings and infrastructure elements.
The ability of an AI-controlled network to analyze the usage of every unit of lighting, water taps, HVAC units, and even the facade of the building itself, gives you the ability to cater to residents' needs and preferences while eliminating wasteful or dangerous situations by shutting down elements Not in use.
Artificial intelligence provides the latest prevention and safety measures, in addition to monitoring other threats. An example of this is the announcement by Bee’ah, a pioneer in the field of sustainability in the Middle East, that all areas and systems of its new headquarters in Sharjah will be equipped with artificial intelligence technology, so that when it opens in the last quarter of 2019, it will become the first of its kind in the UAE and the Middle East region. Middle and North Africa, and one of the most important smart buildings in the world.
According to this agreement, Bee'ah's new headquarters will be equipped with a wide range of smart building solutions and artificial intelligence technologies supported by Microsoft. This will be another milestone in the digital transformation journey that Bee'ah has embraced and expanded significantly over the past few years. This comes in line with its vision, which is centered on focusing on all aspects of sustainability and technology as pillars of the modern economy.
energy efficiency
The presence of renewable energy in cities must be accompanied by the right control systems capable of reducing waste and meeting demand in a reliable and most sustainable way possible.
In this report, we highlight the many and growing uses of AI in the energy industry, from creating and operating smart grids, to accurately forecasting production and demand at a city level, to crafting better renewable energy solutions and materials. In addition to what we mentioned above, the ability of artificial intelligence to create a wide integrated energy network that is far beyond the city level.
A newly released report estimated that in the GCC alone, governments could save up to $10 billion in infrastructure investment in 2020 by deploying and integrating smart grids for additional efficiency across multiple cities.
According to the International Energy Agency, by 2040 more than 1 billion households and 11 billion smart devices will be able to be actively connected to electricity networks managed by AI solutions at the city level or even at the country level.
Sustainable planning
City designers are turning to artificial intelligence to unlock the secrets of sustainable urban planning that encompasses the daily activities of millions of residents. AI can combine data from tracking cameras, smart scales, sensors and monitoring devices of all kinds to build a more accurate picture of how people use cities.
In addition, artificial intelligence can read license plates and recognize faces at a rate of hundreds of thousands every hour. In short, it can track the movements, interactions, needs and preferences of a city's residents and visitors to help us fully appreciate how to design and build better urban fixtures that work for everyone while minimizing their environmental impact.
Dubai Smart Government launched the first data science laboratory of its kind in the UAE, working with a growing network of partners from various government and private sectors. This laboratory will adopt data analysis using artificial intelligence techniques, and through it, data experts and business owners will develop brief ideas in more detail, before finally moving to the final stage, during which the data science laboratory tools and platforms are used to implement use cases. The laboratory also includes the stage of coordination and capacity building to reach a smart and safe city for all.